Improvement in pill-machines



2Sh0t8-8i189t 1. J. M. RICHARDS.

Pill-Machine.

No. 216,107. Patented June 3,1879.

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N PETERS PHQTQMTHOGRAPHER, WASHINGTON, D c,

Patented June 3,1879.

Pill-Machine.

J. M. RICHARDS.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN M. RICHARDS, OF LONDON, ENGLAND.

IMPROVEMENT IN PILL-MACHINES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 216,107, dated June 3,1879; application filed May 11, 1878; patented in England, September 21,1876.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, JOHN MORGAN RIGH- ARDS, of Great Russell StreetBuildings, Great Russell street, (Bloomsbury,) in the city of London, inEngland, .have invented certain new and useful Improvements in theMannfacture of Pills, and in the machinery or apparatus to be usedinsuch manufacture, of which the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription.

This invention relates to the manufacture of every description ofmedicinal pill for man or beast, having reference to mechanical meansfor increasing the efficiency of such pills.

The exhibition or administration of medicines in the form of pillsoffers so many advantages that it is obviously desirable to adopt meansto insure the proper action of the medicinal substances of which suchpills are composed.

There is no doubt that ordinary pills, being hard, solid, sphericalbodies, often pass through the stomach undissolved, owing to theresistance which their structure opposes to the digesting process.

' The primary object of the present invention is to remedy this defect;and this is effected by perforating the pills, so as to admit thegastrict juice freely to the interior of each one, and, by thus insuringa proper and ready solution of the ingredients, to enable the medicineto produce the desired effect promptly and without fatiguing thedigestive organs.

Although such perforations of the pills may at first sight appear to bea very simple matter, it has been found, in practice, to require specialinstruments or apparatus to effect the operation in a satisfactory andeconomical manner. i

Another object of the said invention is, therefore, the production ofefficient means for perforating pills, which I have accomplished byconstructing a simple machine with a pair of dies which clamp the pillssuccessively, and one or more punches which pierce or penetrate eachpill while it is held between the dies.

The said invention consists, first, in the pro cess of perforating pillswhile in a soft or fresh state and as a final operation, so as to leaveopen orifices therein; secondly, in the combination of a punch orpunches and a pair of dies, with mechanism for actuating the same, forconvenient use in carrying out said process; and, thirdly,-in aperforated pill having one or more open orifices, as a new article ofmanufacture, as herein after more fully set forth.

The subject-matter of the said invention was patented in EnglandSeptember 21, 1876, Letters Patent No. 3,703 of 1876.

Figure l of the accompanying drawings is i a back elevation of the saidmachine for perforating pills. Figs. 2, 3, and 4 are additional backviews, illustrating the operation, certain parts being omitted. Fig. 5is an edge view of the machine as shown in Fig. 4:. Fig. 6 is a-frontelevation of the machine as shown in Fig. 2. Figs. 7 and S are partialhorizontal sections on the line a b of Fig. 6, the views being frombelow and from above, respectively. Figs. 9 and 10 are similar partialsections on the line 0 d of Fig. 6. Figs. 11 and 12 are sections of aperforated pill, illustrating a modification,the plane of Fig. 12 beingindicated by the line of, Fig. 11. Figs. 13 and 14 are sections of twopills perforated by the illustrative machine, as shown.

Like letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the severalfigures.

In carrying out my invention, ordinary spherical pills may be compoundedand rolled or molded without reference to the present special treatment.Such pills, while still moist or fresh, are supplied to a perforatin g-machine, Figs. 1 to 10, and therein perforated, so as to retain openorifices, one or more in each pill.

. The pills, when perforated, are ready to be put up in boxes orotherwise for sale and use, and when administered the pills willdissolve quickly and without fatigue to the stomach, owing to the freeadmission of the gastric juice to the interior of each pill, ashereinbefore stated.

The construction and operation of the perforating-machine above referredto are fully illustrated in the drawings.

A, Fig. 1, represents ahand-lever; and B, a spur segment or sector, bywhich the machine is worked, and O, a balance-weight. The parts A B Oare rigidly connected together, and turn on a horizontal pivot, D, whichis screwed into a stationary bracket, E, Figs. 1, 6.

F, Figs. 1, 6,represents a cam-wheel; and G,

a pinion rigidly united to said cam-wheel, and meshing with thespur-sector B. H represents the frame of the machine, which consists ofa casting, of which the bracket E is a part,- and a parallel pair ofvertical bars, Fig. 6, attached to the face of the casting by screws, soas to form undercut vertical ways.

I, Figs. 1, 2, 3, 6, and 7, and J, Fig. 6, represent a pair of slidesworking in said ways, to which they are fitted at top and bottom,respectively.

K, Figs. 6 and 10, represents a movable die, carried by the upper end ofthe slide J; and L, Figs. 6, S, and 9, a fixed die, attached by screwsto the face of the frame H above the die K.

The opposite faces of the dies K L are con-- structed with hemisphericalrecesses or halfchambers, which, when the (lie K is elevated, form aspherical cavity or chamber of the proper size to receive and hold apill of a given diameter.

M, Figs. 6 and 7, represents a-punch, carried by the lower end of theslide I, in which it is fastened by a set-screw, and accommodated byperforations in the dies K L, which it is designed to penetrate. These.perforations in the dies are shown in Figs. 8,10, and in dotted lines inFig.6.

The dies K L may be made of any suitable metal, such as. type metal. Thepunch M should be of steel.

N, Figs.1,6,represents a pin or stud, firmly screwed into the slide J,so as to project from the back of the slide; and 0 represents a simi-,lar pin or stud, projecting from the back of the slide I. These pins areaccommodated by vertical slots h h in the frame H, as shown in dottedlines in Fig. 2, and by the slots f f andf f of the cam-wheel F,thelatter being occupied by smooth cylindrical portions ofreduceddiameter, with-which the respective pins terminate.

1 Figs. 1, 6, represents a horizontal studshaft, screwed into the backof the frame H to form the pivot of the cam-wheel F and pinion G.

The operation of the machine is as follows: The lower die, K, beingdropped and the punch M elevated, as represented in Figs. 1, 2, and 6, apill is placed in the half-chamber of said die K. The leverA is thendepressed, which causes the sectorB to rotate the pinion- G, and with itthe wheel F, in the direction indicated by arrows. As the wheel Frotates, the cam-slots f f and f f, acting on the pins N O, elevate thedie-slide J andwlower the punch-slide I, but not synchronously. At aboutthe middle of the movement the dies are completely closed, as shown indotted lines in Fig. 3, that portion of the cam-slot ff between the pinN and the end f in said figure being concentric with the shaft P, andsimply effective during thismotion-for holding the dies together untilthe end of the punching operation. On the contrary, that portion of thecam-slotf f between its end f and the pin 0 in Fig. 3 is concentric, ornearly c'oncentric, with the shaft, and the remainder of its length iseffective. Consequently the pill is first confined or clamped in thedies, and

then perforated. Any liability of the pill to 'burstduring the operationis thus restrained.

The completion of the perforating motion is illustrated by the dottedlines of Fig. 4.

The lever A being now raised, the order of the work of the slots of thecam-wheel F is reversed. First, the punch M is lifted out of the pill,this being all the while firmly held between the dies. Then the die K islowered, and the pill can be removed. The balanceweight 0 holds thelever in its raised position.

If more than one perforation is desired, it can be obtained by replacingthe pill in the die K in such position that the punch will have anotherdiameter of the pill to act upon.

Pills with one and two diametrical perfora' tions, produced as above,are shown in Figs. 13 and 14, the section in each case being in theplane of the perforations.

It is not, however, an essential feature of the invention thatperforations should be in the lines of diameters.

Figs. 11 and 12 represent a pill having two perforations through it,neither of which is in the line of a diameter, Fig. 11 being alongitudinal section through one of the perforations, and Fig. 12 across-section. Pills can be thus perforated at one operation byproviding the a slide I with a pair of punches, and correspond inglyperforating the dies 5 and, if desired, the dies K L may each befurnished with two or more half-chambers, the slide I being providedwith a corresponding number of punches for the desired style ofperforations, and thus the machine can be made to operate on more thanone pill at a time.

To adapt a given machine to perforate different sizes of pills, all thatis necessary is to substitute the required dies and punch for the dies KL and punch M, which are made removable for this purpose.

A blunt punch is used in the illustration, an escape for the punchingsbeing provided at the bottom of the die K in front. The small amount ofmaterial thus displaced is more than compensated for by the increasedefficiency of the pills incident to their perfora- 'tion. 1f preferred,however, a sharp-pointed {punch may be used, so as to displace thematerial laterally, provision to be made in the dies for aslight'increase in the size of the pill. In perforating pills after theyhave become hard a drilling operation will be necessary. This forms nopart of the present invention, except in so far that perforated pillsmay be .manufactured according to my invention by this as well as byother processes. The machine also admits of modification in unessentialdetails.

I am aware that pills have been pierced in the process of'coating thesame, the object being to impale them on the needles of dip ping-frames;but in this case the punctures have been carefully closed, and have beenmade as minute as possible, and too small to be effective if left open.

I am also aware that lozenges and other confections have been made inthe form of rings; but these are not designed nor adapted to be takeninto the stomach whole, there to be dissolved, while this is anessential characteristic of my perforated medicinal pill, theperforations of the latter operating to admit the gastric juice into theinterior of the pill after it is swallowed.

Having thus described my said improvement, what I claim as new and of myown invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the UnitedStates, is as follows, namely:

1. As an improvement in the art of manufacturing pills, the process ofrendering the pills more easily digestible, consisting in theperforation of each pill while the same is soft or fresh and after it isotherwise finished, so

as to leave one or more open orifices in each pill, as hereinbeforespecified.

2. The machine for perforating pills, having a pair of dies for holdingthe pills, anda punch or punches for producing one or more open orificesin each pill, in combination with mechanism for successively closing thedies, projecting the punch or punches, retracting the latter before thedies are opened, and finally opening the dies, substantially as hereinillustrated and described.

3. As a new article of manufacture, a medicinal pill havingone or moreopen orifices or perforations for the free admission of the gastricjuice to the interior of the pill after the latter is taken into thestomach, as herein shown and described, for the purpose set forth.

JOHN MORGAN RICHARDS.

Witnesses:

A. G. BUELL, JOHN H. STAATS.

